March 22, 2025

Spurgeon: Matthew 26:39

Spurgeon: Matthew 26:39

We look at how Spurgeon handled Matthew 26:39 in his devotional Morning and Evening

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We look at how Spurgeon handled Matthew 26:39 in his devotional Morning and Evening

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Imagine tomorrow morning,

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you wake up, you get ready, you get in your car,

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and you drive to your church. You sit down in

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the pew. The pastor walks up to the pulpit. He

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opens his bible and he says, turn in your bible

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to Matthew chapter twenty six, verse thirty nine. Matthew, chapter

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twenty six, verse thirty nine. And he reads these words,

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and he went a little further, and he fell on

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his face and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if it

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be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not

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as I will, but as thou will. Matthew twenty six,

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verse thirty nine. Matthew chapter twenty six, verse thirty nine.

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And then he says, this morning, we are going to

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spend this time looking at Matthew twenty six thirty nine

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and learning about prayer. Now, at that very moment, are

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you excited? Are you like, oh, yes, this should be

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really good. This is a beautiful passage of scripture, and yes,

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I want to learn about prayer for Matthew twenty six

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thirty nine. Or do you immediately get nervous. Do you

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immediately get concerned that Wait a minute, where is this going?

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Is this a text about prayer? Is Matthew twenty six

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thirty nine supposed to be teaching me about prayer? Do

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you become at least a little bit concerned theologically? Are

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you a little bit concerned? Where is this going? Hermeneutically? Right? So,

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and he went a little further and fell on his

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face and prayed. Okay, that's referring to Jesus, oh my father.

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If it be possible, let this cut pass for me. Nevertheless,

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not as I will, but as thou willed? Reading from

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the King James? Is that teaching us about prayer? Is

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that about us? Or is that about something else? How

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should you even be nervous? And if I call into

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question what your pastor does with the text, would you

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be bothered with me? What if I was to call

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into question how one of the most famous pastors in

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history handled the text? Should I do that? Well, we're

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going to find out what's about to happen right after

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I say good morning everyone. It is Saturday, March the

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twenty second, twenty twenty five. It is currently eleven twenty

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two am Central time. And I am coming to you

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live from the Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now,

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yesterday I told you the story of the Pilgrim's Progress,

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Morning and Evening and My Utmost for His Highest. This

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is the trilogy. This is the three books that shaped

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modern devotional Christianity. Those three books shaped the way pastors

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preach it. It shapes the way many Christians read the scriptures.

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Even if you've never read Pilgrim's Progress, even if you've

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never read Morning and Evening by Charles Hednspurgeon, even if

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you've never read My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers,

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even if you've never really read them, you have been

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influenced by them because those three books change Christianity forever.

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And I will argue it changed Christianity for the worst.

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Look at from a hermeneutical perspective when it comes to

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biblical hermoneutics, those three books are the unholy Trinity because

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it got people to read the scripture and an allegorical

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metaphorical everything like, oh, you know, when David kills Goliath,

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that's me killing the giants in my life, or when

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I walk around the walls of Jericho I've got to

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This is how I bring down the walls that are

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holding me from moving forward in my Christian life. Whatever

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the case may, everything becomes a metaphor, everything becomes an

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an allegory, everything becomes about me, everything becomes about me,

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everything becomes about me, or we get into kind of

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a charismatic approach. That's what Oswald Chambers kind of brings

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to the table. These three books are again I'm not

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telling you not to read them, I'm not telling you

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not to use them. I'm telling you that you need

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to understand how significantly they changed Christianity, and I don't

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think people truly understand their impact. So we talked about

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that yesterday. I offered my critique, I offered my warning,

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and I think it was a very important discussion. Well,

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today we're going to We're not going to look at

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Pilgrim's progress. We're going to go to my Morning and

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Evening by Charles Hadden Spurgeon and look to the devotional

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that he gave for today, March the twenty second, and

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it's based off Matthew twenty six, verse thirty nine. Now

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I need to just say this right, this needs to

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be stated. What we're going to do. I'm gonna play

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the audio of this devotional. First, we're gonna play the audio,

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and then we're gonna break it down harmoneutically, and then

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I'm gonna What I think is the biggest issue with

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how Spurgeon handles Matthew twenty six thirty nine, is I

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believe he destroys a proper law gospel distinction. I think

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that's the biggest issue, which is so common in the

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modern church, the modern evangelical fundamentalist church. They the proper

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distinction between law and gospel that has been obliterated in

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modern day Christianity. And we'll see how Spurgeon follows that

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same that same pattern in fact, you know you yeah,

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I mean, it's it's it's it's majorly problematic. But I've

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got to say this. I've got to say this when

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you hear what Spurgeon has to say about Matthew twenty

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six thirty nine. If if you went to church my

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opening illustration, if you go to church tomorrow and your

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pastor said, open your bible, Matthew twenty six thirty nine,

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we're going to be talking about prayer. And he basically

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taught what Spurgeon said in his devotional for today that

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basically basically becomes your pastor's sermon. I guarantee you you

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would sit there shaking your head saying amen, and then

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you would probably tell the pastor how great the sermon was.

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After you probably would take notes. You probably would share

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those notes with other people, and you would say it

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was an amazing sermon, a great sermon on prayer. And

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probably ninety nine percent of people would say it's amazing,

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it's awesome, it's great. But I'm going to be the

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one percent here that's gonna say I think this it's

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a theological mess, it's a hermoneutical mess. And I know

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that's no one's going to agree. I understand you're not

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going to agree, but which just demonstrates how these three

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books ultimately change Christianity, and when you call it into

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question now you're viewed as the one that's wrong. You

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have to read, you have to basically read and handle

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scripture the way John Bunyan Spurgeon and Oswald Chambers says

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to handle scripture, because anything contrary to that now is

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so alien and foreign to the modern Christian mind. They

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don't know how, they don't know how to read it

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any differently than the way basically Bunyan, Spurgeon and Oswald

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Chambers established how we handle scripture. And I'm saying no, no, no,

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they don't determine how I read scripture. They I don't

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care about their influence. I should. The way I learned

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how to read scripture is based off basic rules of reading, reading, comprehension.

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You know, hermeneutics, exegetical understanding of the Texas, avoiding is

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of Jesus, all the things that we Everyone talks about

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these things, but they don't really follow through in practice.

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So are you ready to hear how Spurgeon handled Matthew

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twenty six thirty nine and his devotional Morning and Evening.

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If you have a copy of Morning and Evening, you

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can look it up for yourself if you if you

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don't have a copy, just do a search online for

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Morning and Evening by Charles Haddon Spurgeon and you'll find

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today's entry, right, I mean, it'll take you just a

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couple of seconds to find it if you Yeah, you can.

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If you're on the sermon Audio website, you can type

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you go to the devotional tab. You should be able

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to see it. It's pretty simple, pretty easy and to find.

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It's not difficult. The book is everywhere, and that's that's

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because it's one probably one of the most devotional, most

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influential devotionals in history in many ways. So are you ready?

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Here we go. We're gonna listen to it. It's gonna

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go by fast, right. These audio these audio these audio

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editions of Spurgeons in the Morning and Evening. They're very short.

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They just read it. There's no there's I mean, it's

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just it's done. So it's gonna go by quick. Listen.

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I guarantee you're gonna be like, what is wrong with this?

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And I understand. I understand you're gonna think I'm being picky,

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but I'm not. I think there's clear hermeneutical and phiological issues.

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Here we go, Thesaalmus said, when I awake, I am

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still with thee for the child of God. Seeking the

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presence of the Lord is essential as each day begins.

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To help you in starting this day with God, we

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offer a brief devotional meditation from Morning and Evening, a

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collection from the pen of one of the greatest preachers

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of all time, Charles Hadden Spurgeon. This morning's text is

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found in Matthew, Chapter twenty six, verse thirty nine. And

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I went a little farther and fell on his face

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and prayed. There are several instructive features in our Saviour's

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prayer in his hour of trial. It was lonely prayer

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he withdrew even from his three favored disciples. Believer, be

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much in solitary prayer, especially in times of trial. Family prayer,

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social prayer, prayer in the church will not suffice. These

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are very precious. Thus the best beaten spice will smoke

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in your censer, in your private devotions, where no ear

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hears but God's. It was humble prayer. Lukes as he knelt,

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But another evangelist says, he fell on his face. Where

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then must be thy place, Thou, humble servant of the

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Great Master? What dust and ashes should cover thy head?

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Humility gives us a good foothold in prayer. There is

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no hope of prevalence with God unless we abase ourselves

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that He may exalt us in due time. It was

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filial prayer, Abba, Father, you will find it a stronghold

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in the day of trial to plead your adoption. You

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have no rights as a subject. You have forfeited them.

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By your treason. But nothing can forfeit a child's right

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to a father's protection. Be not afraid to say, my

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father hear my cry. Observe that it was persevering prayer

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he prayed three times. Cease, not until you prevail. Be

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as the importunate widow whose continual coming earned what her

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first supplication could not win. Continue in prayer and watch

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in the same with thanksgiving. Lastly, it was the prayer

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of resignation. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou

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wilt yield and God yields. Let it be as God wills,

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and God will determine for the best. Thou content to

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leave thy prayer in His hands, who knows when to

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give and how to give, and what to give and

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what to withhold. So pleading earnestly, importunately, yet with humility

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and resignation, thou shalt surely prevail. This meditation was taken

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from Morning and Evening by C. H. Spurgeon.

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Now I'm telling you you probably if you were going

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to church and the pastor gave you those five points,

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you probably would have written them down. You would have

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probably thinked, oh, that's great. If you were a young

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pastor or Sunday school teacher. You mean, like, whoa, those

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are five good points, right, solitary prayer, humble prayer, filial prayer,

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preserving prayer, resigned prayer. Okay, those are five points. I've

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got my outline. This is good. Right. That's something you

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could write down in your journal. That's something you could

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you could write down in your notes. I mean that

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gives you something to grab onto. But did anyone notice

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what what the possible issue is here? Now? If I

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was if I was in Hermeneuticts class, if I was

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at church, if I was in a Sunday school class teaching,

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if I was in a Bible college teaching, I would

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I would be like, all right, class, what is the issue?

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And if nobody knew, I would be like, Okay, guys,

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here's what I'm going to do. I'm gonna leave. I'm

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gonna go down the hallway. I'm gonna get me something

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to eat and drink, and then I'm gonna come back.

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You guys talk amongst yourselves and come to an agreement

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of what the problem is. So then I would leave,

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come back. What's the problem. I will argue that probably

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ninety nine percent of the people will never get what

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the problem is. But did you notice what occurred? This

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is a passage about what Jesus was doing, and it

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turned into now a teaching about what we should do.

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And if you don't get what the issue is, well

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then we'll have to work together to see if we

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can find But it makes a passage about what Jesus

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did and to a passage about what we should do.

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And that is a ajor theological concern. All right, So

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what I did is I handed it to artificial intelligence.

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I'm like, okay, artificial intelligence, tell me what we should

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do with this. So this is what AI did, Right,

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Ai said, let's explore today's devotional from morning and evening.

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Let's walk through a hermeneutical critique of morning and evening

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entry from March to twenty second morning, which reflects on

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and he went a little further and fell on his

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face and prayed Matthew twenty six thirty nine. This passage

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is drawn from Jesus agonizing prayer and get sent him

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in he shortly before his betrayal and crucifixion. Right, so

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AI is like, okay, let's I'm going to offer you

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a hermeneutical critique. It sets up the stage right Matthew

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twenty six thirty nine. Now, please note Spurgeon didn't even

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go through the whole verse. He took only part of it,

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which is typical with morning and evening, and again Christians

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doesn't seem to bother Christians that he does this. But

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he only took part of the verse, doesn't even take well,

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I guess maybe ultimately he takes the whole thing. He

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only quotes and he went a little further and fell

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on his face and prayed. Say, but I mean the

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whole He kind of pulls from that last part, nevertheless,

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not as I will, but as thou wilt. So but

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he got only read part of it. But okay, still

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he does that all the time. He'll take just a phrase,

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but okay, there's the whole verse. So I guess in

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some ways he does pull his points from it. Artificial

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intelligence only quotes and he went a little further and

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fell on his face and prayed, because that's what's quoted

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in the actual devotional. Then AI provides some context. This

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passage is drawn from Jesus agonizing prayer and gets semine

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shortly before his prayer and crucifixion. All right, so it

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sets it up. So then Ai provides a summary of

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Spurgeon's entry. Spurgeon draws five lessons from Jesus prayer. All right,

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I've already repeated them. You heard Spurgeon give them, or

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you heard the audio of Spurgeon's devotional. Read what Spurgeon said.

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So you had the five there, and then I'll give

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you the five again. Go ahead and write these down.

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Spurgeon draws five lessons from Jesus prayer. One solitary prayer,

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Jesus withdrew from others. Number two, humble prayer, Jesus fell

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on his face. Number three filial prayer, Jesus prayed all

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a father. Four preserving prayer. Jesus prayed three times. No,

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it doesn't go through and explain, of course, then the

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devotional doesn't make the references back to where it was

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three times. But okay. Number five resigned prayer. Jesus says,

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not as I will, but as thou wilt. Each element

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then is turned into a spiritual practice or principle for

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the believer during times of personal trial. Now, this text

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is not about you doing you in a time of

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personal trial. This text is not about you praying. This

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text is not about me praying. This text has nothing

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to do. It's about Jesus' struggling in prayer, and he

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struggling with something very very very important, all right, because

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if you remember here, right, if you go all the

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way back, if you go to verse thirty eight, then

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saith he unto them, to his disciples, we go to

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verse thirty six. He comes to the place casemone, and

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he said, unto the disciples, sit you here while I

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go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter

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and the two sons of Zebedee and again to begin

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to be sorrowful and very heavy, and he said, unto them,

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my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. Terry yee

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here and watch with me. Then he goes and prays,

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and then he comes back and they're sleeping, and he's like,

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what could you not watch with me? So he says,

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watch and pray, and then look at verse forty two. Oh,

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my father, if this cup may not pass away from

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me except I drink it, thy will be done. The

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real key issue in this prayer is about this cup,

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about this drinking of the cup, or Lord take this

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cup from me. That that's really the thiological key here.

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This is not about just going through a personal trial

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that No, this is about Jesus having to drink the cup.

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What is this cup? Right? What is this cup the

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wrath of God? Is this Jesus now struggling somewhat in

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his humanity, understanding that he's now got to partake of

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the wrath of his father? Is he now asking for

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this cup? But he's like, nevertheless, your will be done.

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This is not about personal trials or difficulties, or you're

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having a hard time in your marriage, or you're having

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a hard time with your kids. This is about something

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far different, and not only that it's essential to the

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gospel understanding here. So AI artificial intelligence says, here's a

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hermonutical critique of this section, right, So I just wanted

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it to analyze it. Immediately AI goes into critiquing it,

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and AI says, contextual displacement the original context. Jesus is

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in Gysemine, preparing to bear the wrath of God and

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accomplish redemption through his death. Do you hear that? Even

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AI realizes, no, wait, this prayer here is about him

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struggling with you. He's about to bear the wrath of

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the Father. That's what it's about. This cup. The cup

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symbolizes the wrath of God. That's what it's about, all right.

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This is not about personal struggles. This is what AI says.

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This is a unique and unrepeatable moment in redemptive history.

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Spurgeon lifts this verse completely out of context and turns

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it in a model for how the believer should pray

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during personal difficulty. Well, there may be a secondary application

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to prayer. The text is not into and to provide

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a model. It is a window into the inner struggle

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of the Redeemer as he prepares to die for the

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sins of the world. Even Ai realizes this is a problem.

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Ai knows this is a problem. You should know it's

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a problem. Everyone should know it's a problem. But nobody

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knows it's a problem because Spurgeon so changed the way

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we read scripture. This preach is so good. This would

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be great for a morning devotional lesson. People would love this,

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people would would eat this up. The only problem is

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it's not it's it's it's complete contextual displacement. Ai goes

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on to offer a second problem. From Christ centered to

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me centered, From Christ centered to me centered, how did

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we end up in this text. You even heard when

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that we're reading Spurgeon's devotional all of a sudden it

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comes about, you know. And he went a little further,

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This is about solitary prayer. You need solitary prayer as

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a Christian. Other prayer is great, but you need solitary prayer.

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Where did that come from? Well, how did I end

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up in the text? How did you end up in

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the text. We're not in the text, so Ai says,

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it goes from Christ centered to me centered. The passage

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shows Christ obedience to the Father, wrestling with the reality

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of the cup of wrath. And then we could look

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at Matthew twenty six thirty nine, Mark fourteen thirty six

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and Luke twenty two forty two for well, do let's

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just look at them, all right, we've looked at Matthew

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twenty six thirty nine. Let's go to Mark fourteen thirty six,

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Mark fourteen thirty six, just so we can have some

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textual reference. Here we go Mark fourteen thirty six, just

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so that there's no confusion. And he said, abba Father,

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all things are possible unto THEE take away this cup

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from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou

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wilt take away the cup. It's all about the cup.

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Lukey two forty two, Luke twenty two forty two, Luke

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twenty two forty two, twenty two saying, Father, if thou

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be willing remove this cup from me, nevertheless, not my will,

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but thine be done. This is a prayer about the

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removal of the cup. It's not about your problems. It's

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not nothing to do with you other than what Christ

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is doing for you. But we'll get into that later.

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So the passage shows Christ obedience to the Father, wrestling

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with the reality of the cup of wrath again Matthew

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twenty six thirty nine, Mark fourteen thirty six, and Luke

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twenty two forty two. Spurgeon's reflection subtly shifts the focus

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from Christ's mission to our method of prayer. All of

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a sudden, It's like Spurgeon turns this into here's here's

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the method of prayer. This is not teaching the method

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of prayer. This text has nothing to do with that.

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So Ai says, here's the problem it displays is the

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central theiological point, Christ as the suffering substitute. By using

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the text to derive devotional techniques or personal encouragement. That's

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what it's doing. By using the text to derive devotional

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techniques or personal encouragement, it displaces the central philological point.

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This is about Christ as the suffering substitute, not about

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you praying better. Number three. It's a confusion of unique

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versus imitat inmatailable moments, or I should say this, it's

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a confusion of a unique moment versus something that can

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be imitated there that I can state it better that way,

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AI says. Jesus praying in Gossemite is not presented in

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the Gospel as a model for believers, but as a sacred,

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redemptive turning point in his mission. Spurgeon implies that we

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should learn to imitate Jesus behavior, perseverance, humility, and resignation

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from this moment. The problem not all actions of examples

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for imitation, some are exclusive to his offices mediator. To

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apply this text as a guide for everyday prayer habits

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risk flattening redemptive history and the timeless spiritual tips. AI

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obviously does not like this. AI does not like this

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in any way shape perform the way Spurgeon handles it,

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because it's not handling the text correctly, and it's the

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idea that we can be, that we can do what

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Jesus did. You can't do what Jesus did. It was

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a sinless son of God. You are a sinner. You're

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never going to be submitted to the will of the

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Father anywhere close to perfect. You're gonna always be in disobedience.

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We've talked about this a million times. So it confuses

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a unique moment and turns it into something you can imitate,

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something you can do. But it's not about what you

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can do. It's about what Christ did. Number four philological

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oversimplification Spurgeon's line yield and God yields. Did anyone hear

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that when when we listen to that yield and God yields?

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Do you remember that from the devotional? Yeah? In fact,

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let me pull up the actual printed copy. Let me

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pull up the printed copy of it. Okay, let me

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if I can, if I can find it here, Yes,

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the last this is the last paragraph. Lastly, it was

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the prayer of resignation. Nevertheless, not as I will, but

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as Thou wilt yield and God yields. Yield and God yields.

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That's literally in the devotional. Did did anyone catch that.

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Did anyone have a problem with that? AI says Spurgeon's

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line yield and God yields is poetically beautiful, but it

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is still logically ambiguous, perhaps even misleading. Now AI is

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trying to be nice that it's misleading, that it's ambiguous,

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and at worse, you know, misleading. I think misleading is

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as far, probably more accurate. It implies that God's actions

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depends on human submission of you. That can lean towards

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a transactional theology. Hey, if you yield, God will yield.

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If you will see if you're in prayer, God will

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yield in a sense to your prayer if you yield

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to him. Well, first of all, that seems to imply

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that I can perfectly yield. I'm never gonna be perfectly

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yielded to God because I have a sinful nature that

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will never yield to God. It will always be an opposition.

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I can never yield to say a simple command like

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be holy as God is holy, because I never can

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do that. I can go on and on and on

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and on and on. I'm never truly yielding to God.

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So even if I try to claim that, well, I'm

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yielding to God, in this situation. Am I yielding to

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this God simply in my words that I say in prayer?

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Or am I truly yielded internally? Maybe my my yielding

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appears externally, but internally I'm probably not that yielded. So

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that just just becomes. But the idea is, hey, if

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you want God to yield to your prayer, you yield

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to him and he will yield to you. What that's

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transactional theology. AI goes on to say in Theksemine account,

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Jesus yields but still drinks the cup. God's will does

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not yield to Christ's desire to avoid suffering. Instead, Christ

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submits to it. This quote risk obscuring that point. I

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cannot Spurgeon literally says yield and God will yield. Jesus

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prayed for the cup to be removed. God did not yield.

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He drank the cup. So literally that doesn't even make

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any sense. Again, and AI points this out and the

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Gosemine account, Jesus yields but still drinks the cup. God's

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will does not yield to Christ's desire to avoid suffering. Instead,

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Christ submits to it. This quote risk obscuring that point,

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and the idea would be. And if you take this

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to us logical conclusion of what Spurgeon is saying, yield

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and God will yield. Well, right now, it's a Saturday morning.

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I bet you there's some family and some hospital right now.

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And in fact, if you've ever been to a children's hospital,

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there's some parents right now in a room with their

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child who's had a terminal disease for five six years

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of their life. The child is like six or seven

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years old. Finally the terminal disease is caught up. That

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child's probably going to die today. Those parents have been

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trying to yield to God for five years. They've yielded,

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and they've yielded, and they've yielded, and yet God will

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not yield because their child's going to die. So stop

454
00:28:33.079 --> 00:28:42.720
telling me that if I yield, God will yield. Jesus

455
00:28:42.759 --> 00:28:44.720
yielded to the will of the Father, but yet he

456
00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:51.519
still had to drink the cup. Paul yielded to God

457
00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:54.359
and say, okay, I would like you to remove this thorn.

458
00:28:54.599 --> 00:29:01.920
Well he didn't remove the thorn. But hey, it's Spurgeon.

459
00:29:01.960 --> 00:29:04.519
I'm not allowed to criticize this. No, no, no, no, this

460
00:29:04.599 --> 00:29:11.079
is good prayer teaching. I guess another problem devotional richness,

461
00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:15.920
hermeneutical thinness. AI is trying to be nice. Spurgeon's meditation

462
00:29:16.039 --> 00:29:21.319
is filled with warm, rich exhortations, and AI points out

463
00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:26.400
three of them, be much in solitary prayer, cease not

464
00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:31.640
until you prevail, continue in prayer. These are good pastoral

465
00:29:31.720 --> 00:29:36.480
encouragements in general. The problem is these truths are not

466
00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:40.279
necessarily wrong, but the text doesn't teach them. They're read

467
00:29:40.279 --> 00:29:44.039
into the passage rather than drawn from it. I cannot say, hey,

468
00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:48.519
Spurgeon takes concepts of prayer for personal prayer, reads it

469
00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:51.400
into a text that has nothing that is not teaching

470
00:29:51.480 --> 00:29:55.039
these concepts. They're being read into it. That's is said Jesus.

471
00:29:55.079 --> 00:29:58.160
That's not exit Jesus. We're supposed to pull from the text.

472
00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:01.079
The text is about what Jesus did. It's not now

473
00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:05.279
giving me. Hey guys, okay, you know you go to church.

474
00:30:05.400 --> 00:30:08.000
What did you learn this morning? Well, I learned in

475
00:30:08.039 --> 00:30:12.160
Matthew twenty six thirty nine about how I'm supposed to pray. Well, no, no, no,

476
00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:14.480
you didn't learn that from Matthew twenty six thirty nine,

477
00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:16.960
because Matthew twenty six thirty nine is not teaching you

478
00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:19.720
anything about how to pray. It's not giving you a list.

479
00:30:19.880 --> 00:30:22.039
It's not giving you points. You're not supposed to go

480
00:30:22.079 --> 00:30:23.799
home and say I've got to do better, I got

481
00:30:23.799 --> 00:30:27.279
to pray better. No, it's about what Jesus did for you.

482
00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:32.440
You should be going home relaxed and content and happy

483
00:30:32.599 --> 00:30:35.039
because of you heard about what Jesus did for you.

484
00:30:35.119 --> 00:30:36.920
But no, no, no, no, what Jesus did for you

485
00:30:37.079 --> 00:30:46.359
is turned into what you must do now. To be fair,

486
00:30:46.799 --> 00:30:49.839
this devotional Matthew twenty six thirty nine by Charles haddensburgs

487
00:30:49.880 --> 00:30:53.240
and does have some strengths. It comes across as being

488
00:30:53.279 --> 00:30:56.160
spiritually rich and devotionally warm. I think we can agree

489
00:30:56.200 --> 00:30:59.839
with that. Some may say it encourages humility and perseverance

490
00:30:59.839 --> 00:31:02.400
and prayer. You can't necessarily say that's a bad thing.

491
00:31:03.319 --> 00:31:08.640
It exalts personal surrender, It uses poetic, memorable language, and

492
00:31:08.680 --> 00:31:12.119
it offers useful prayer habits. But here's the weakness. It

493
00:31:12.160 --> 00:31:16.519
ignores the actual context of the passage. It treats jesus

494
00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:21.240
unique suffering as some kind of a spiritual model. It

495
00:31:21.319 --> 00:31:23.720
moves the text from a Christ's centered to a me

496
00:31:23.880 --> 00:31:27.519
centered at risk confusing God's will and human will and prayer.

497
00:31:28.039 --> 00:31:39.480
It assumes imitation where the text intends revelation. Those are

498
00:31:39.519 --> 00:31:44.119
the issues now. AI goes on to say, spurgeons March.

499
00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:47.839
The twenty second Morning entry offers heartfelt encouragement and helpful

500
00:31:47.880 --> 00:31:50.599
reflection on prayer, but hermeneutically, it turns one of the

501
00:31:50.640 --> 00:31:55.680
most sacred, philologically weighted moments and scripture into a how

502
00:31:55.720 --> 00:32:01.119
to lessen on prayer habits bypassing its crystological gravity. The

503
00:32:01.240 --> 00:32:04.200
Casemite scene is not primarily about how we should pray

504
00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:06.839
and suffering. It is about how Christ submitted to God's

505
00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:12.839
will in order to suffer for us. To make it

506
00:32:13.240 --> 00:32:17.559
a devotional guide risk replacing the objective work of the

507
00:32:17.640 --> 00:32:22.960
savior with the subjective striving of the believer. Oh that's

508
00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:26.400
a beautiful quote from AI. Right, to make it a

509
00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:32.480
devotional guide risk replacing the objective work of the Savior

510
00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:40.519
with the subjective striving of the believer. So then I

511
00:32:40.559 --> 00:32:42.480
was like, I I agree with all of that, but

512
00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:44.839
I thought the problem was even deeper than that, And

513
00:32:44.920 --> 00:32:47.160
AI did not touch And what I thought the deepest

514
00:32:47.160 --> 00:32:50.400
problem was all of those problems. I completely agree with AI.

515
00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:54.279
I completely agree with everything AI says there. AI tries

516
00:32:54.319 --> 00:32:58.440
to be nice. I think it's majorly problematic. So I

517
00:32:58.480 --> 00:33:00.960
think there's a major problem with the devotion. Now, let

518
00:33:01.000 --> 00:33:02.759
me make it very clear. There'd have been a time

519
00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:04.880
in my Christian life I would have been writing those

520
00:33:04.920 --> 00:33:06.880
notes down boom, and I would have been like, give

521
00:33:06.880 --> 00:33:09.440
me an opportunity to preach, give me come on, come on,

522
00:33:09.480 --> 00:33:11.000
give me an up. And I would have turned it

523
00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:13.039
into my own. I would have changed some of the

524
00:33:13.079 --> 00:33:15.079
wording around. I would have added some points. I would

525
00:33:15.079 --> 00:33:17.920
have done some cross referencing, and boom. I would have said, today,

526
00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:19.519
we're going to talk about prayer. I would have went

527
00:33:19.599 --> 00:33:21.559
in and we don't do this, and we don't do this,

528
00:33:21.599 --> 00:33:23.160
and we don't do this, and we don't do this,

529
00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:24.599
and you need to do better and I need to

530
00:33:24.599 --> 00:33:26.480
do better, and we need to pray better. And how

531
00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:28.720
is your prayer life? And have you been praying this way?

532
00:33:28.759 --> 00:33:30.440
And what is wrong with your prayer? You need to

533
00:33:30.440 --> 00:33:32.480
come forward and get right with God and confess that

534
00:33:32.519 --> 00:33:35.559
our prayer life has been as miserable and we are

535
00:33:35.599 --> 00:33:40.799
weak and we are sinning, and how horribly we pray. Oh.

536
00:33:40.839 --> 00:33:46.119
I would have went to town on it. Now, once I

537
00:33:46.119 --> 00:33:48.440
started learning how to actually handle the text of Scripture,

538
00:33:48.559 --> 00:33:52.359
I started realizing, hmm, may have been a good sermon,

539
00:33:52.599 --> 00:33:54.559
but it would have actually led people away from the

540
00:33:54.680 --> 00:33:58.519
understanding of the text, and Spurgeon actually leads people away

541
00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:02.440
from what is actually beautiful about Matthew twenty six thirty nine.

542
00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:05.920
So I had to challenge Ai, or not to really

543
00:34:05.960 --> 00:34:08.280
challenge Ai, I had to say, hey, Ai, I think

544
00:34:08.280 --> 00:34:12.599
there's a deeper problem. So I said this. Even though

545
00:34:13.320 --> 00:34:19.159
the devotional sounds very spiritual, and many may even argue

546
00:34:19.199 --> 00:34:25.199
the points are biblical, isn't it very problematic that it

547
00:34:25.280 --> 00:34:29.000
takes a passage about what Christ is doing for us

548
00:34:30.039 --> 00:34:34.639
Gospel and turns it into a lesson about what I

549
00:34:34.719 --> 00:34:40.639
am to do law. Now, remember, anytime you read a

550
00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:43.480
passage of Scripture and it shows you what Jesus is

551
00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:48.079
doing for you, that is gospel. You can't take a

552
00:34:48.119 --> 00:34:50.719
passage about what Jesus is doing for you and then

553
00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:53.159
flip it around and make it about what I'm supposed

554
00:34:53.199 --> 00:34:57.039
to do, because now you're taking a Gospel passage and

555
00:34:57.119 --> 00:34:59.800
turning it into law. When it says what Jesus is doing,

556
00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:02.440
that is gospel. If I said that's law. Let me

557
00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:04.519
state that correctly, because I think I stated it in

558
00:35:04.519 --> 00:35:07.000
it correctly. Whenever you read a passage about what Jesus

559
00:35:07.079 --> 00:35:11.480
has done for you, that is gospel. Whenever you read

560
00:35:11.519 --> 00:35:14.000
a passage about what you are supposed to do, that

561
00:35:14.280 --> 00:35:18.000
is law. So when we read what Jesus is doing

562
00:35:18.039 --> 00:35:21.519
in Matthew twenty six thirty nine, that is gospel. Spurgeon

563
00:35:21.559 --> 00:35:24.360
came along and took a gospel passage and turned it

564
00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:27.159
into law by saying, here's what we're supposed to do.

565
00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:31.039
It's not a law passage. In fact, you begin to

566
00:35:31.320 --> 00:35:39.920
corrupt the Gospel by doing that. So AI says you

567
00:35:40.199 --> 00:35:46.320
have hit on the core philological and hermoneutical problem with

568
00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:50.280
great clarity. It takes a passage about what Christ is

569
00:35:50.320 --> 00:35:54.079
doing for us gospel and turns it into a lesson

570
00:35:54.239 --> 00:35:56.719
about what we are to do law. And again I

571
00:35:56.760 --> 00:35:59.719
apologize if I got those backwards. By no means to do.

572
00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:01.760
I want to mess that up. I want to be

573
00:36:01.880 --> 00:36:04.559
crystal clear on that. Matthew twenty six thirty nine is

574
00:36:04.559 --> 00:36:07.760
telling us what Jesus did. That is a gospel passage.

575
00:36:08.119 --> 00:36:10.440
It's not a law passage. It's not about what I'm

576
00:36:10.480 --> 00:36:17.199
supposed to do. This is not just a minor interpretive slip.

577
00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:21.679
It reveals a serious confusion between law and gospel, and

578
00:36:21.719 --> 00:36:26.679
it reflects a widespread devotional instinct and modern day Christianity.

579
00:36:27.039 --> 00:36:29.880
Modern day Christianity loves to do this. It turns everything

580
00:36:29.920 --> 00:36:32.760
into a law based passage. Do this, do this, read

581
00:36:32.800 --> 00:36:35.360
your Bible more to give more money, go to church,

582
00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:38.760
do this, witness more, do do do this, this, do

583
00:36:38.840 --> 00:36:41.760
this because everything has to be a practical lesson in

584
00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:45.239
what we're supposed to do. But when you go to

585
00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:48.440
a gospel passage that's telling you what Jesus did and

586
00:36:48.480 --> 00:36:50.480
you flip that around and make it about what I'm

587
00:36:50.519 --> 00:36:54.599
supposed to do, that is insidious. That is a corruption

588
00:36:54.840 --> 00:36:58.400
of the gospel. And that is majorly problematic. And I

589
00:36:58.440 --> 00:37:01.519
don't care who does it. I don't care what philological

590
00:37:01.559 --> 00:37:06.920
team they're on. It needs to be called out again.

591
00:37:07.000 --> 00:37:11.559
Ai says, this is not a minor interpretive slip. It

592
00:37:11.639 --> 00:37:14.719
reveals a serious confusion between long and gospel, and it

593
00:37:14.760 --> 00:37:18.400
reflects a widespread devotional instinct in modern day Christianity. And

594
00:37:18.480 --> 00:37:20.760
so then I asked, Ai, Okay, why is this a

595
00:37:20.800 --> 00:37:24.440
serious problem? Give me the reasons why Number one, it

596
00:37:24.480 --> 00:37:31.360
shifts the focus from christ work to my work. The

597
00:37:32.320 --> 00:37:36.559
Gasemine account is about Jesus, the sindless son, submitting to

598
00:37:36.599 --> 00:37:38.960
the Father's will to drink the cup of wrath. It

599
00:37:39.039 --> 00:37:44.079
is a part of a gospel narrative Christ standing in

600
00:37:44.119 --> 00:37:47.880
our place, preparing to bear judgment so that we do

601
00:37:47.960 --> 00:37:51.239
not have to. Turning it into a lesson on how

602
00:37:51.280 --> 00:37:55.800
you should pray under trial moves the spotlight from his

603
00:37:56.000 --> 00:38:05.400
substitution to your effort, work, my attempt, my discipline. That's

604
00:38:05.440 --> 00:38:10.840
not about that. So it shifts the focus from Christ's

605
00:38:10.840 --> 00:38:13.840
work to ours. Number two, it turns gospel into law.

606
00:38:14.400 --> 00:38:17.559
Instead of hearing the text as good news, Look what

607
00:38:17.760 --> 00:38:21.920
Jesus endured for you, the reader hears it as a command.

608
00:38:22.199 --> 00:38:25.000
You should pray like this, you should submit like this,

609
00:38:25.280 --> 00:38:30.119
you should preserve like this. That is law what you

610
00:38:30.400 --> 00:38:34.000
must do. You've taken a gospel passage. Look what Jesus

611
00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:37.239
did for you. Jesus did this. He submitted to the

612
00:38:37.239 --> 00:38:40.119
will of the Father. Because you can't submit to the

613
00:38:40.119 --> 00:38:43.599
will of the Father. He perseveres in prayer because we

614
00:38:43.840 --> 00:38:47.880
fail to persevere in prayer. He spends time in solitary

615
00:38:47.960 --> 00:38:51.079
time alone with God. Because we fail to do so

616
00:38:51.599 --> 00:38:56.480
he does it for you. He's your intercessor, he's your sacrifice,

617
00:38:56.679 --> 00:39:01.039
he's your advocate, he's your propitiation. This is all about

618
00:39:01.039 --> 00:39:03.360
what Jesus does for you. This is how do you

619
00:39:03.400 --> 00:39:05.360
flip that around and make it about what I'm supposed

620
00:39:05.360 --> 00:39:07.840
to do? You leave a sermon on Matthew twenty six

621
00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:10.159
thirty nine, going, I need to pray more. I need

622
00:39:10.199 --> 00:39:12.079
to pray more. I need to do more. Well, then

623
00:39:12.119 --> 00:39:14.559
you didn't go to church to hear the gospel. You

624
00:39:14.639 --> 00:39:18.199
heard the church to be given an absolute corrupt version

625
00:39:18.239 --> 00:39:20.760
of the gospel because I take gospel and turn it

626
00:39:20.800 --> 00:39:30.679
into law. And when the law this is very important,

627
00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:33.000
this is what Ai says. And when the law is

628
00:39:33.119 --> 00:39:36.960
drawn from a gospel moment, it actually robs the text

629
00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:40.760
of its power to comfort and places the burden back

630
00:39:41.159 --> 00:39:45.320
on the reader. When you hear Matthew twenty six thirty nine,

631
00:39:45.480 --> 00:39:48.920
that should remove your burden because you're seeing what Jesus

632
00:39:49.079 --> 00:39:52.360
did for you that you will fail to do because

633
00:39:52.360 --> 00:39:58.320
we are sinners. So number one, it shifts the focus

634
00:39:58.360 --> 00:40:00.519
from Christ's work to ours. Number two, it turns the

635
00:40:00.559 --> 00:40:04.599
gospel into law. Number three, it creates devotion that sounds

636
00:40:04.599 --> 00:40:10.719
spiritual but centers the self. The devotional sounds reverent, sincere,

637
00:40:10.920 --> 00:40:14.719
and even worshipful, but ultimately it says, here's how you

638
00:40:14.760 --> 00:40:17.599
should behave in your suffering. Here's how you should pray.

639
00:40:17.760 --> 00:40:19.960
Here's what you should do. You need to do this.

640
00:40:20.199 --> 00:40:22.000
You need to do more of this, you need to

641
00:40:22.039 --> 00:40:25.519
do less of this. Instead of look at the one

642
00:40:25.559 --> 00:40:29.320
who suffered for you. It becomes a sanctified form of moralism,

643
00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:33.679
where the main use of scripture is to extract spiritual

644
00:40:33.719 --> 00:40:36.599
principles for daily life, rather than to reveal to you

645
00:40:36.840 --> 00:40:42.719
the finished work of Christ. Number four. It can leave

646
00:40:42.760 --> 00:40:46.679
the reader burdened instead of free. Imagine a suffering believer

647
00:40:46.760 --> 00:40:50.360
reading this entry. Instead of being comforted that Christ understands

648
00:40:50.400 --> 00:40:53.079
their anguish and bore their burden, they may feel like,

649
00:40:53.400 --> 00:40:56.000
I don't pray like that, I don't have that level

650
00:40:56.000 --> 00:41:01.400
of resignation. I must be felling spiritually. This devotional quietly

651
00:41:01.440 --> 00:41:04.519
shifts the weight of the passage onto the reader's shoulders,

652
00:41:04.639 --> 00:41:07.119
which is the opposite of what the passage is meant

653
00:41:07.119 --> 00:41:11.360
to do. So then I asked Ai for a chart,

654
00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:15.079
and AI made me a nice little chart. The right

655
00:41:15.239 --> 00:41:19.440
use gospel Christ praise and Gussemite to submit to the

656
00:41:19.480 --> 00:41:25.119
Father and save us. The problematic use law. You should

657
00:41:25.119 --> 00:41:27.719
pray like Christ in your trials. That's not what the

658
00:41:27.760 --> 00:41:30.599
text is about. And you just took a Gospel passage

659
00:41:30.760 --> 00:41:33.920
and turn it into law number two of right use.

660
00:41:35.239 --> 00:41:40.960
Behold your substitute sweating blood for your redemption. That's the

661
00:41:41.079 --> 00:41:43.760
right use. That's gospel. Here's the problem use, or the

662
00:41:43.800 --> 00:41:46.239
problematic use of the law. Learn to be humble and

663
00:41:46.280 --> 00:41:48.960
submit like Jesus. That's not what the text is about.

664
00:41:50.960 --> 00:41:54.760
Right use. This is a unique moment and redemptive history.

665
00:41:55.199 --> 00:42:00.719
Problematic use. This is a model for your daily devotional practice.

666
00:42:01.199 --> 00:42:04.239
You are comforted by what Christ endured on your behalf.

667
00:42:04.559 --> 00:42:07.239
The problematic use of the law. You are exhorted to

668
00:42:07.320 --> 00:42:14.480
follow his example and feel guilty if you don't. So,

669
00:42:14.559 --> 00:42:18.360
I asked Ai. So what's your conclusion that this devotional

670
00:42:19.719 --> 00:42:25.920
is a philologically serious problem This type of devotional approach

671
00:42:26.159 --> 00:42:30.119
approach is deeply problematic because it confuses law and gospel.

672
00:42:30.360 --> 00:42:33.559
It reduces Christ's unique saving work to a moral instruction.

673
00:42:33.920 --> 00:42:36.599
It turns a redemptive event into a burden, and it

674
00:42:36.679 --> 00:42:40.800
sounds spiritual but subtly recenters the text on self effort.

675
00:42:41.400 --> 00:42:46.039
What begins as a devotional warmth can become doctrinally confusion,

676
00:42:46.320 --> 00:42:49.639
and what should bring rest to the soul ends demanding

677
00:42:49.920 --> 00:42:55.800
more striving. This is why the devotional genre must be

678
00:42:56.119 --> 00:43:02.239
examined carefully, especially when it forms the primary way many

679
00:43:02.320 --> 00:43:10.320
Christians interact with scripture. The devotional idea has destroyed biblical hermeneutics.

680
00:43:10.639 --> 00:43:15.320
The devotional idea has destroyed modern day preaching, and the

681
00:43:15.400 --> 00:43:19.480
devote Not only does the sermon idea need to be destroyed,

682
00:43:19.679 --> 00:43:22.559
so we stop preaching sermons and we actually teach the text.

683
00:43:22.800 --> 00:43:26.559
The devotional world needs to be burnt to the ever

684
00:43:26.679 --> 00:43:30.519
living ground so that there's nothing left. Because this is

685
00:43:30.559 --> 00:43:34.119
what happens. And that's one of the most famous devotions

686
00:43:34.159 --> 00:43:38.519
in modern history. That is the Morning Entry for March

687
00:43:38.639 --> 00:43:41.639
the twenty second by Charles Hadden, the Spurgeon, and the

688
00:43:41.679 --> 00:43:48.119
thing is a hermeneutical, philological disaster. And by saying that

689
00:43:48.559 --> 00:43:51.639
everyone's going to get mad at me, and that's okay,

690
00:43:52.880 --> 00:43:56.320
you could you are in the majority. Ninety nine percent

691
00:43:56.320 --> 00:43:59.559
of the people will agree with you. That's okay. I

692
00:43:59.599 --> 00:44:03.679
got no problem standing by myself on this. That is

693
00:44:03.719 --> 00:44:08.559
an absolute obliteration of the proper distinction between law and gospel.

694
00:44:09.880 --> 00:44:13.840
Everyone needs to learn. When you read a passage that

695
00:44:14.000 --> 00:44:18.440
shows you what Jesus is doing for you, that is gospel.

696
00:44:18.519 --> 00:44:21.079
When it says God did this or Jesus did this,

697
00:44:22.159 --> 00:44:24.760
that is gospel. That is supposed to be sweet. That's

698
00:44:24.760 --> 00:44:28.360
supposed to be refreshing. It's supposed to be freeing. It's

699
00:44:28.400 --> 00:44:31.199
supposed to be comforting. It's supposed to take the burden

700
00:44:31.280 --> 00:44:34.840
off your back. Jesus did this for me because I

701
00:44:34.960 --> 00:44:40.719
can't do it. When it says what you're supposed to do,

702
00:44:40.960 --> 00:44:44.519
that's law, that's supposed to condemn you. That's supposed to

703
00:44:44.599 --> 00:44:47.360
show you you can't do it, and then you're supposed

704
00:44:47.360 --> 00:44:50.960
to run to Christ. To the gospel. Law condemns law

705
00:44:51.039 --> 00:44:54.239
reveals your inability. Law is not something you can do.

706
00:44:54.519 --> 00:44:56.920
Laws is giving you something you can't do, So you

707
00:44:57.039 --> 00:44:58.960
have to run back to Christ the sweetness of the

708
00:44:58.960 --> 00:45:02.559
gospel of what Jesus did for you. Pray without ceasing.

709
00:45:02.639 --> 00:45:06.559
Jesus prayed without ceasing. Do this, Jesus everything that I

710
00:45:06.559 --> 00:45:09.440
am told to do. Jesus did submit to the Father.

711
00:45:09.760 --> 00:45:13.440
Jesus did not my will but his way. Jesus did

712
00:45:13.440 --> 00:45:16.320
it for me, because I will never do it perfectly.

713
00:45:16.480 --> 00:45:19.440
But every sermon turns this into what we're supposed to do,

714
00:45:19.599 --> 00:45:22.440
which is an obliteration. Not only is that a hermoneutically

715
00:45:22.440 --> 00:45:27.039
inaccurate because it's not about us, it destroys the proper

716
00:45:27.039 --> 00:45:30.440
distinction between law and gospel. Now I know everything I

717
00:45:30.519 --> 00:45:33.239
just said. Probably it sounds like I'm speaking a foreign language.

718
00:45:33.400 --> 00:45:36.239
Probably sounds like that I come from a different planet,

719
00:45:36.360 --> 00:45:38.840
because you've never heard anything like this, because it's so

720
00:45:39.119 --> 00:45:43.679
opposite to modern day Christianity. But I'm telling you, we've

721
00:45:43.719 --> 00:45:48.239
got to get back to this proper understanding. All right,

722
00:45:48.280 --> 00:45:55.400
I'll stop there. That was today's entry for Morning and

723
00:45:55.519 --> 00:45:59.119
Evening by Charles Heddenspurgeon. Again, you should have a copy

724
00:45:59.119 --> 00:46:02.280
of it. If it was up to me, I would,

725
00:46:02.440 --> 00:46:04.400
if I was teaching hermautics class, I would say the

726
00:46:04.440 --> 00:46:08.280
three books you need is Pilgrim's Progress, Morning and Evening

727
00:46:08.320 --> 00:46:10.760
by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and My Utmost ver As Highest

728
00:46:10.760 --> 00:46:13.199
by Oswald Chambers. Because these three books are going to

729
00:46:13.199 --> 00:46:14.719
be the books that we're going to look at to

730
00:46:14.760 --> 00:46:18.039
see how not to do proper biblical hermeneutics. And these

731
00:46:18.039 --> 00:46:21.079
three books have been the most influential books that in

732
00:46:21.239 --> 00:46:24.920
modern day Christian Christianity, and far more influential than anyone

733
00:46:24.960 --> 00:46:28.360
even wants to admit. And they're all hermoneutically a mess,

734
00:46:28.440 --> 00:46:33.199
and in this case a philological mess, because it destroyed

735
00:46:33.239 --> 00:46:36.039
the proper distinction between long and gospel, and which is

736
00:46:36.079 --> 00:46:40.800
what church after church does. Thanks for listening, everyone, Have

737
00:46:40.840 --> 00:46:44.199
a great Saturday. It's now Saturday afternoon. Make the most

738
00:46:44.239 --> 00:46:46.880
of your time. Before you know it, Saturday will be Sunday,

739
00:46:47.039 --> 00:46:48.840
and then before you know it, Sunday will be Monday,

740
00:46:49.000 --> 00:46:51.440
and then Monday will be Tuesday, and then while another

741
00:46:51.519 --> 00:46:53.880
year is over, and then well then you die, all right,

742
00:46:53.920 --> 00:46:56.800
So make the most of our time because we have

743
00:46:56.880 --> 00:47:00.000
a very limited amount of it. Thanks for listening everyone,

744
00:47:00.039 --> 00:47:01.280
of a great day. God bless